Chapter 142 : Do You Want to Hold Hands?

Not much to pack. Lisa stuffed everything into the bulging backpack, leaving only the small two-person tent, besides the pot over the fire.

Milly was about to help when Lisa spoke up.

“Leave the tent to me.”

Since Lisa offered, Milly didn’t insist. She stepped back, found a clean spot, and continued chewing on her half-eaten flatbread. Watching Lisa work, Milly felt a sense of déjà vu.

She had sat like this before, eating a thin cracker while watching others pack up camp. But before the memory could fully form, Lisa was already done, hoisting the backpack.

It was just a small tent, after all. Easy to pack.

“I’m ready. Let’s go.”

Milly nodded. She closed her eyes and activated her God’s perspective, scanning the surroundings.

“This way.”

Her range was still limited, so she had to rely on her appraisal skill to guide her, constantly switching between the two to avoid getting lost.

As they went deeper, the trees grew denser. Occasionally, she heard the roar of a monster in the distance. Judging by the sound, they were far away. Unless they smelled blood, they wouldn’t find them.

“Milly…” Lisa’s voice trembled from behind. “I think I heard a monster. They say monsters eat people… are we…”

Scared?

Milly’s lip twitched. She stopped and looked back at Lisa. The girl’s green eyes were filled with anxiety, her hands nervously clutching her skirt.

She was really trying. Although Milly knew who was behind Lisa, she probably hadn’t realized she was exposed. Or maybe she knew and was just brazening it out. Milly had to admire her dedication.

Her fear was convincing. If Milly didn’t know better, she might have believed it.

From the moment they entered the forest until now, aside from that distant roar, they hadn’t seen a single sign of a monster. Even in the outer region, seeing no monsters was strange. It was as if they were deliberately avoiding them.

Luck?

No, Milly knew her luck. With her luck, she would have run into a dangerous monster by now. There was only one possibility. The person behind Lisa was doing something. Releasing a powerful aura to scare off the weaker monsters. As for attracting stronger ones, Milly doubted it.

At Stacy’s level, unless there was a thousand-year-old monster in the core, ordinary beasts would flee from her aura. That was why they hadn’t encountered anything since yesterday.

She used her appraisal skill on Lisa again. Still nothing. And she couldn’t sense any aura from her either. Stacy had bypassed the appraisal skill and masked her aura.

Was her main body not here? Just a wisp of aura attached to Lisa? If so, her main body must be hiding nearby, creating a hollow circle of aura around them. Monsters would sense it and avoid them, while Milly, in the center, felt nothing.

Given that it was Stacy, she probably had a simpler method. Milly was just guessing based on her own limited understanding. But one thing was certain: the lack of monsters was definitely Stacy’s doing.

“I’m… I’m not scared!” Lisa interrupted Milly’s thoughts, leaning closer. “I just… feel a little cold.”

Seeing Lisa trying to get closer, Milly ignored her and turned to continue walking.

As they went deeper, the trees grew taller and denser. The canopy blocked out the sky, obscuring the sun.

But it should still be early.

By evening, Milly stopped. She closed her eyes and activated her God’s perspective. In her mind, a clear line appeared in the landscape. One side was sunny and detailed, the other shrouded in mist, obscuring everything inside.

“We’re here.”

Milly didn’t hesitate. She warned Lisa and walked straight into the core of the forest.

Lisa hesitated behind her, but seeing Milly charge ahead, she gritted her teeth and followed.

Inside the core, the trees lost their straight posture. The deeper they went, the more twisted and deformed they became.

A sickly sweet scent of decay filled the air, like overripe fruit mixed with rotting corpses. It was nauseating. When the wind blew, the deformed branches rubbed against each other, making a sound like groaning.

Looking back, the path was gone. The deeper they went, the scarcer life became. The lush canopy thinned, replaced by withered branches reaching for the sky like skeletal fingers.

Milly stopped, scanning her surroundings. Some trees looked petrified, covered in a layer of black, crystalline substance.

They shouldn’t have gone far, but the environment had changed drastically.

Milly closed her eyes and activated her God’s perspective. The image in her mind was shrouded in thick fog. This was the first time her God’s perspective had failed. Even her perception was blocked in this land polluted by the Fallen God.

She opened her eyes. A strange sight appeared before her. A thick fog suddenly rose, reducing her visibility to almost zero. She could barely see her own body.

First her God’s perspective was blocked, and now a fog in the core. Was it trying to make her lose her way?

“Milly…”

Lisa’s trembling voice came from the fog behind her. She seemed frightened by the sudden mist.

“I can’t see anything…”

The next moment, two soft mounds pressed against Milly’s back, followed by a warm breath on her ear.

“Do you… want to hold hands?”